Yesterday I cried. As I drove to work, listening to the music being played on the radio that ever so accurately described what this day meant for me and millions of other Americans, my eyes welled up with tears at the possible outcome of today’s election. The long lines I encountered at 6 am, brought an oxymoronic smile to my face. No age group went unrepresented. Young and old were there to make their voice heard.

The second round of the liquid emotion came when Jeff Johnson of BET’s The Truth announced that Barack Obama had just been elected to be the next President of the United States. The tears continued when our 44th President walked out onto the stage in Chicago, with his family, America’s family, The First Family, showing the world the new image of the Black family. Love, unity, support, strength, integrity and accomplishment left that stage affecting all who watched. As I sat in my Grandmother’s living room, all in attendance expressing their deep appreciation of this event with tear soaked faces, everyone listened to his powerful voice, eloquent speak, and hard hitting message. President Obama spoke to me when he mouthed, “It’s been a long time coming, but a change is going to come…” speaking a line from my favorite old school song, Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come. I previously posted a video, The Great Black Vote that combined this song with some powerful images of the black experience in America. Once again my Grandmother verbalized a truly powerful statement, “I can’t believe I lived to see this.” This same comment, when spoken during the DNC, inspired a post by me, Barack and Being Black. She along with a countless amount of African Americans never thought his day would come. For my grandmother who has lived in the Jim Crow south, with an illiterate mother and brothers serving a less than deserving country, The Dream has been realized. I looked down at my niece who has only been on this earth for four years, lying in the arms of my sister, naive to this historic event that is taking place. I am happy at the progress that America has made and what this day tells me about the world she will live in. Now it’s time for us to step our game up. It’s time for us to support our newly elected President. It’s time for us to show this country, this world, that African Americans can accomplish anything. Yesterday I cried, but I didn’t cry alone. Obama believed throughout his campaign, and we supported him, YES WE CAN. History has been made, YES WE DID. Now the furture is up to us, YES WE WILL.

This video has been circulating around the cyber world through e-mail and I came across it today. It’s a really touching video that sent chills through my body as I watched and listened. Not to mention the footage is set to one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE songs, “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. This song was brought to my attention as the fitting, yet erie sounds that filled the theater during the famous scene in Spike Lee’s classic film, Malcolm X. As Malcolm drives to The Audubon Ballroom to speak, he stares ahead with a blank gaze, realizing his impending demise. From that point on, this song has made such a powerful impact on me every time I hear it. The words fit well with this video and are quite appropriate for what may soon come to past in the oncoming election. Anyway, check out the video and be inspired.